Rating of
2.5/4
Same Old Witch, Different Day
Chris Kavan - wrote on 12/21/16
You know the scariest thing about Blair Witch? The fact that the main character says he was four years old when his sister went missing - because, man, does that make me feel old. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project became the first found footage horror film (a genre that didn't really take off until Paranormal Activity) that I remember most fondly for the last five minutes - but everything leading up to it was questionable at best.
It only took 17 years, but Adam Wingard, in a bit of stealth film making (we didn't even know it was about the Blair Witch until two months prior to its theatrical debut), takes us back to the woods. This time our characters are armed with GPS, drones and walkie-talkies but, come on, you know it's not going to help. It seems all the new-fangled technology in the world is no match for bad reception and temporal paradoxes. I've been a fan of Wingard since the better-than-expected You're Next, but Blair Witch does little to inspire.
While the characters here aren't quite as green as the trio in the original Blair Witch Project, they're not exactly endearing, either. James (James Allen McCune) is looking for his missing sister (Heather Donahue - who, unfortunately, does not make an appearance) who went missing 17 years prior while filming a documentary. His friend, Lisa (Callie Hernandez) decides to make her own documentary about his search. Tagging along are two long-time friends Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid). They meet up with a pair of locals, Lane and Talia (Wes Robinson and Valorie Curry) who found and posted a mysterious video online that James thinks looks like his long-lost sister.
The group is better and better prepared, but soon everything starts to go wrong. It's little things at first: Ashley hurts her foot, mysterious noises in the night and a betrayal by the locals who pull a cruel prank. But soon, things get darker - figuratively and literally. Time starts to play weird tricks - the GPS stops working and soon our group realizes they are in over their heads as they try to make it out of the woods alive.
Now, there are some good scares - Ashley finding out just how bad her foot injury really is and pretty much the entire climax set inside a recreation (and expansion) of the house in the original film - and a claustrophobic tunnel. However, much like the original film, when it takes that long to get to something good, it's not always worth it. The movie doesn't even attempt to recognize that the second film (Book of Shadows) even exists - not that I care too much.
In the end, Blair Witch comes across as yet another found footage horror film. While it does have more ambition, it squanders most of it with unappealing characters and way too unexplained events. I kind of wish it would delve more in to the history and mythology - we get a few stories and teases, but I still don't know why the hell things go the way they do. In any case, fans of the original film and found footage in general will probably be satisfied with this, but overall it's simply adequate.
